Ranking college football teams is an exercise every college football fan takes part in, usually making their choices known to family and friends or anyone who will listen. It’s part of the game’s attraction as well as a cause for some frustration.

Tommy HicksI was in touch with both emotions until the wee hours of Sunday morning. As a Harris poll voter, the time has come to start offering my top 25 picks each week. While it is neat to be part of the process, it can be a daunting responsibility, one that I do not perform with a shrug of my shoulders.

Having been a top 25 poll voter the past few seasons and previously, both on the Harris and Associated Press polls, I understand the pitfalls and analysis that takes place and the importance of voting.

Scores are checked and rechecked. The same happens with schedules and all other pertinent factors.

The list, especially the first week of voting, requires as many questions as stats and scores. When the top team on the ballot is determined, there remains 24 spots to fill.

Ranking the top 15 teams can be difficult at times — it certainly was early Sunday morning — but usually the more difficult task is the ranking and selection of the final 10 teams. There are times it is tough to identify 10 teams worthy of the ranking. At other times parity makes selecting those spots a tough task.

The Harris poll does the right thing by waiting until four weeks of games have been played to start ranking teams. This season is proof that is the correct approach. Teams don’t get spots in the poll based on their play the season before or their expectations.

That has helped teams like Houston and Iowa, which have rocketed up some polls. Highly touted teams like Florida State and Ole Miss, meanwhile, have suffered from early-season losses.

This year’s first week of voting, based on the many upsets, led to a lot of juggling, a lot of consideration for several teams up and down the list and a lot of wadded pieces of paper in the trash basket. After going back and forth on some teams and rankings for a while, I completed my ballot and e-mailed it to the Harris folks.

The top five?

In order, Florida, Texas, Alabama, LSU and Boise State.

The bottom five?

Miami, Cal, Nebraska, Ole Miss and Georgia Tech. In between are a few surprises but the ballot was filled out honestly.